When the Cape Breton Regional Hospital expansion project is finished, the facility will include a new heart catheterization lab that will keep almost 900 patients a year from having to travel to Halifax for diagnosis and treatment.

Officials say it will also save lives.

Dr. Paul MacDonald, the hospital's chief of cardiology and medical site co-lead for the $210-million redevelopment project, was ecstatic after Nova Scotia Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson made the announcement on Friday.

"This is the sunniest, brightest, greatest day since I've been in Cape Breton in 25 years," MacDonald said despite some rain.

"This is the biggest health-care initiative since the cancer centre came to Cape Breton 25 years ago. This will have such a huge impact on so many patients and families."

The lab can not only prevent serious complications from heart disease, but it can keep people with heart disease from dying, he said.

"If you're having a heart attack now, this is lifesaving right now, and the therapies that we have available are really second-best while we struggle to get patients transferred and access to the cath lab in Halifax," MacDonald said. "So this is a huge deal for people right now. We couldn't be more excited."

In the lab, a catheter is inserted into a patient's arteries or veins to deliver a dye test looking for blockages. If a blockage is found, a balloon can be inserted immediately to allow blood to flow again.

Without the equipment and specialists of a lab, patients in Cape Breton have to travel 400 kilometres to Halifax. For many, that delay is too long, said MacDonald.

"Some people will still end up going to Halifax for some more complicated procedures, of course for bypass surgery, but most of those patients we're going to service and take care of right here in Cape Breton."

The health minister said the lab "will absolutely save lives."

"It will bring care to Cape Breton." Thompson said. "It will bring people the care that they need quicker."

Area resident Ken MacAdam was on hand for the announcement and called it great news.

He went to the hospital with chest pain and said it was stressful having to wait for days in a hospital bed until an ambulance could take him to Halifax.

"This is a big piece of the puzzle for our area ... and it's going to benefit us greatly," MacAdam said.

MacDonald said the lab will cost between $6 million and $10 million just for equipment and it will need additional medical specialists and nurses, but it will also save the health system money.

There will be fewer helicopter and ambulance transfers to Halifax with service available locally, he said, and it will free up beds for other patients needing care.

The health minister said she did not have a cost handy, but it will be rolled into the existing funding for the hospital redevelopment that includes new buildings and expanded care. It is expected to open in 2024.

For several years, the Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation has been fundraising for a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner to aid in early cancer detection. It is something the medical community has sought.

However, the foundation would need the province to cover the operating costs of about $700,000 a year.

Thompson said discussions are ongoing about what new services could be available once the expansion project is finished and a PET scanner is under review.

Tom Ayers has been a reporter and editor for 36 years. He has spent half of them covering Cape Breton and Nova Scotia stories. You can reach him at tom.ayers@cbc.ca.

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